Re: Filemaker Query: Is that possible, and how ?




"Diego B" <messadua@xxxxxxxx> schreef in bericht
news:1181785774.703070.289390@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all,

I have an excel spreadsheet reporting some clinic numbers and a
Filemaker DB (FM 8.5 adv. Windows XP)
reporting some of the same patients listed in the spreadsheet.
I would like to import only new patients (i.e. clinic numbers) in
Filemaker leaving out patients previously inserted.

Is there a way to say to Filemaker to check if the clinic numbers is
already in the DB, importing only the new ones, and how ?

In alternative I could export all the clinic# from filemaker, compare
in some way to those listed in Excel and delete the repeated records,
but I would really learn how to do that directly in FM, if possible.

Thank you

Diego


It is entirely possible, but it all depends on the way the data are entered.
Both in FMP and Excel. It will work best when each person has his own ID and
the id's are the same accross the two solutions. It might work when the
names are entered. In this case you have to rely on the way they are
entered. But with names a mistake or a different spelling might easily be
introduced. (John D Brown being the same person as John Dan Brown) or two
persons with the same name.

So assuming all is perfect (with unique ID's that are the same accross)
Create a second table (Import)
Create all the field you need
Relate existing::ID to import::ID
create a calculation cCheck < Number ; isvalid ( existing::ID ; import::ID )
export the excell to tab
import this into the import table
find all cCheck with a value of 1 (this ID already exists)
delete found set
import the rest (new id's ) into the existing table
empty the import table

All goes very pearshape in other cases, where you can't rely on data
integrety. Really there is no way you can totally safe swap data around,
since you can't be sure if the data is either right or wrong, you have to
built a compare script and view EVERY record to see if the match is correct
or not.

OR

perhaps the excel file has a cell (date added), you might be able to
retrieve those records after the date of the previous import. These being
new.

Keep well, Ursus


.



Relevant Pages

  • Filemaker Query: Is that possible, and how ?
    ... I have an excel spreadsheet reporting some clinic numbers and a ... Windows XP) ... reporting some of the same patients listed in the spreadsheet. ... Filemaker leaving out patients previously inserted. ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)
  • RE: Import Access data into Excel - Looking for programmer
    ... > the excel data file. ... On the first sheet, the main data sheet with over 800 rows, ... The applicants are my clients, and I have about 200 of ... > I’d like to creatre an Access database, or Filemaker database, or even another ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.programming)
  • Re: truncating text fields
    ... Because of customer requirements, I'm constrained to version 7, which doesn't seem to support direct import/export between FM and Excel. ... I found that Windows FM had many UI anomalies and non-standard interfaces that don't exist in other Windows programs. ... I spent the same amount of time unsuccessfully trying to generate properly formatted labels in FM as I did coming up with a successful solution through the export method, although for a more experienced developer, the converse would probably be true. ... It will even do some basic formatting so that the Excel cells resemble the data in FileMaker. ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)
  • Re: truncating text fields
    ... Anyway, I just wanted to mention that beginning with FileMaker 8, we now ... have native support for Excel: ... everyone who's mentioned the business about doing the labels ... FM for Windows" and legibility comment. ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)
  • Re: Charts in Filemaker 7, 8....
    ... I just found out that Excel 2004 for Mac has a menu selection DATA / GET EXTERNAL DATA / IMPORT FROM FILEMAKER PRO ... This means you must either copy and paste data into another spreadsheet that already has your chart set up or design new charts in the export spreadsheet. ... I have tried the FM plug-ins but they do not have the capabilities that I need. ...
    (comp.databases.filemaker)